Navy drone makes 1st carrier landing

Northrop Grumman's X-47B takes another step for unmanned aviation

An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator plane completes an arrested landing on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush off the coast of Virginia on July 10, 2013. U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Brian Stephens

An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator plane completes an arrested landing on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush off the coast of Virginia on July 10, 2013. U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Brian Stephens

Navy drone makes first aircraft carrier landing

The Navy landed an unmanned jet on an aircraft carrier Wednesday, proving that a drone can do what is generally considered the toughest flying job in naval aviation.

The San Diego-engineered Northrop Grumman X-47B performed the feat off the Virginia coast nearly two months after the first successful catapult launch from the same carrier.

It’s a milestone moment for the Navy, which has inched toward using unmanned planes and helicopters from the sea but now seems to be hurtling in that direction.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus praised this step in the development of military aviation.

"It isn't very often you get a glimpse of the future. Today, those of us aboard USS George H.W. Bush got that chance," Mabus said in a released statement Wednesday.

He added that the follow-on versions of this aircraft will "radically change the way presence and combat power are delivered from our aircraft carriers."

That might be taken as a sobering sign for traditional Navy pilots. However, the Pentagon is investing billions in the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which includes a Navy variant that also lands on carriers. Those jets will likely be around for decades.

The batwing X-47B took off from Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland and flew 35 minutes to the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush.

There, it caught the "three wire" on the flight deck.

An aircraft carrier has three to four cables stretched across its deck. Pilots usually aim to catch the third one with the plane's tailhook when landing. Pilots are judged by how often they hit the proper wire.

Despite being a tailless plane, the X-47B is equipped with a tailhook. This "arrested landing" allowed the aircraft, which was flying 145 knots, to stop in less than 350 feet.

"We have been using the same [carrier] landing technology for more than 50 years now and the idea that we can take a large UAV and operate in that environment is fascinating," said Capt. Jaime Engdahl, the Navy's unmanned carrier aircraft program manager, in a released statement.

Wednesday's landing is just another sign that the era of unmanned drones on aircraft carriers is coming soon, even this decade.

The Navy has issued a call for proposals for the next phase of carrier drone development. At least four major defense contractors — Northrop Grumman, Lockheed, Boeing and General Atomics — are expected to compete.

The Navy will likely underwrite the design of four versions, then winnow it down to one before going into production in fiscal 2016.

That may mean good business for San Diego, home to nearly half of Northrop Grumman’s X-47B team. About 100 employees at the defense contractor’s Rancho Bernardo campus work on vehicle design, software development and navigation.

Northrop got the carrier drone contract in 2007. The requirement was to create two demonstration vehicles to prove that an autonomous drone could be operated from a carrier and refueled in air.

The program has cost the Navy $1.4 billion.

These carrier drones will join the Navy’s growing fleet of Northrop-built unmanned Fire Scout helicopters, just starting to be used regularly from U.S. warships.

The Air Force and Army have been employing aerial drones for surveillance and firepower, to deadly and controversial effect, for several years.

But operating from ships means more mobility than a land-based aircraft can offer. The United States wouldn’t need permission from other countries to use their bases.

Also, the carrier drone will likely be armed with considerable firepower, comparable to what a F/A-18 Hornet can deliver. The X-47B can carry a 4,500-pound weapons payload. The Air Force’s Predator drone, in comparison, only carries two Hellfire missiles.

The pitching deck of an aircraft carrier also brings more complexity. Every naval carrier aviator can tell you how many “trap” landings he or she has performed, especially at night.

As a prototype, the X-47B flies a preprogrammed mission then returns to base in response to mouse clicks from its operator, who monitors its movements but doesn’t actively “fly” the vehicle.

According to defense industry press, the follow-on version that Lockheed plans to propose would reduce the Navy’s manpower requirements because a single operator could operate multiple aircraft.